Muted plumage
The leaves may not change for fall in Houston, but bird feathers do
Northern cardinals in my yard look haggard, with bald, grayish-black heads, absent their trademark perky crest. Their tattered rusty-red feathers are besmirched by dingy grays and chalky whites. Blue jays look even worse. Their bright blue head crests are normally erect like war bonnets; their fierce white faces with cold black eyes and strong necks ringed in black like war paint. Instead, the birds have scruffy, lean necks and wan head crests.
The male eastern bluebird that fed worms to its chicks in our bluebird nest box only a month ago showed up after a brief absence. Poor guy. Its lusterless topside had lost the hue of a blue summer sky. And our typically handsome, perky Carolina wren looks pitiful in its dilapidated plumage. No wonder it’s not as vociferous as usual.
Don’t despair. The changes are the result of our endless summer.
Songbirds aren’t singing as usual because they’re busy molting into a new, complete coat of plumage in a gradual, time-consuming, energy-depleting process. The job of feather molt also means birds might hide out for a few days while temporarily lacking standard camouflage against predators,
Until their molting is complete, songbirds will stay mostly quiet and secretive, except for foraging forays. Many will have acquired a full coat of new feathers by November, although the molting schedule goes faster for some species and slower for others.
An unkempt blue jay will molt head and body feathers first and then gradually molt wing and tail feathers in a precise sequence that ensures flying ability. Blue jays that hatched this spring may retain a few juvenile feathers with their new coat of adult plumage.
The fall wardrobe on songbirds will lack the lively colors of spring. But come March and April, a songbird’s feathers will become lustrous from hormonal changes along with gradual burnishing of dull feather tips to reveal lustrous breeding plumes.
Nonetheless, the new coat of fall plumage must last songbirds until the fall of 2022. The exceptions include American goldfinches arriving here for the winter in drab plumage, making them barely identifiable. But come spring, they’ll undergo a second molt of body feathers into brilliant golden hues but will not molt their black wings and tails.
A year from now, songbird plumage will again fade, having been bleached by sunlight, scuffed against leaves and bark, and bombarded by wind-borne debris. Then as now, songbirds will shed their wardrobe of a new one.